The 2019 Oscars proved to be a night of history-making milestones

For so many in Hollywood, the 91st Academy Awards was a huge night for celebration. But this year's Oscars also marked a number of big milestones, as a remarkable amount of women and people of color achieved historic wins.

In years past, the awards have come under scrutiny for the lack of diversity in nominees, and the Academy has been trying to address these issues. In 2018, they invited a record group of 928 new members in hopes of increasing representation of people of color from 13 percent to 16 percent, and women from 28 percent to 31 percent.

Though all-male categories were still very much present at awards shows this year, at the Academy Awards on Sunday night several women not only won Oscars, but became the first of their identity groups to do so. Not to mention, for the first time ever, people of color won the majority of acting Oscars.

This level of public recognition for on-screen and behind-the-scenes diversity is long overdue, but Sunday's ceremony did give us hope for the future of Hollywood.

Here are some of the most memorable milestones made at the 2019 Oscars ceremony.

Black Panther won three Oscars and black women triumphed

Marvel's Black Panther was nominated for seven awards on Sunday, including Best Picture, and won in three categories. But two of the talented women that worked on the film behind-the-scenes made history with their Oscar wins.

Designer Ruth Carter won for best costumes, and Hannah Beachler took home the Oscar for best production design after becoming the first black woman ever nominated in the category. Both Carter and Beachler became the second and third black women to ever win non-acting Oscars, and also the first black women to win non-acting Oscars in more than 30 years. Irene Cara last took home an Oscar for writing the Flashdance song, "What A Feeling" in 1984.

If the legendary Ruth E. Carter) (@iamRuthECarter wins for her work on Black Panther, she'll be the first Black costume designer to take home the Best Costume Design Award at the #Oscars.

Regina King joined the women of Black Panther in making history

Regina King won her first Oscar — Best Supporting Actress for her role in Barry Jenkins' film adaptation of James Baldwin's book, If Beale Street Could Talk. And by doing so, she joined fellow black women, Carter and Beachler, in the setting a record: Together, the wins of these three women marked the first time more than one black woman has won an Oscar in a single year.

People of color won a majority in acting categories for the first time ever

Malek, who won Best Leading Actor for his performance in Bohemian Rhapsody, also became the first person of Egyptian descent to win the award. Ali won Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Best Picture-winning film, Green Book.

Mahershala Ali became the first black actor to win twice in the same category

Ali's win for his role in Green Book this year makes this the second year he's won Best Supporting Actor. He previously won the category back in 2017 for his performance in Moonlight.

While Denzel Washington also has two Oscars, to date, Ali is now the only one who's won two Oscars in the same category.

Domee Shi became the first woman of color to win for Best Animated Short

Domee Shi, director of Pixar's Bao, received the Oscar for Best Animated Short alongside producer Becky Neiman-Cobb. In addition to being the only woman to have directed a Pixar short film, Shi became the first woman of color to receive this award.

A film about menstruation won an Oscar

Period. End of Sentence — the short documentary dedicated to fighting period stigma —got a whole lot of love from Academy. And Rayka Zehtabchi, the 25-year-old director, became the first Iranian-American woman to ever win an Oscar.

When Zehtabchi went on stage to accept the award for Best Documentary Short, she excitedly explained just how impactful the win was for her and women everywhere.

"I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!" she said.

Roma set Academy Awards records for Mexican films

Director Alfonso Cuarón's Roma become the first Mexican film to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, and it also received the award for Best Cinematography. Cuarón made history with the later win, as it allowed him to become the first person to ever win a Cinematography Oscar for a film he also directed.

Cuarón — who already received an Oscar in 2014 for his film, Gravity — was also given the award for Best Director at Sunday's ceremony.

Though Hollywood clearly has a long way to go in terms of diversity and equal representation, the 2019 Oscars have certainly given us some real milestones to celebrate.